On another thread, a poster said that Christians not saying that homosexuality is a sin, etc. is one of the problems with the Christian Church today.
Do you agree?
When I hear, "the problem with the Church is that we simply aren't condemning people enough," or "we are simply being to nice/loving/kind", it makes me cringe. In a world has problems with children gunning down other children at school, should one's primary concern be that they aren't being condemning enough?
Did Christ spend most of his time focusing on sins, or how to love one another, how to help another, how to live in humility, and mercy, and compassion, and hope, and truth, just as we ask of God the Father?
In a time that often questions their need of God, should the church's primary goal be to ban the homosexuals from entering? Does one have the authority to say who may and may not come before God, except God himself?
Was Christ rejecting of the prostitutes and taxcollectors, or the Pharisees?
Was his main concern that he simply wasn't "harsh enough" to other people, or that people seem to simply love the minimal that was necessary, ie. forgiving one's neighbor 7 times?
Christ often came to them, saying that doing what was asked wasn't enough, but doing more than one was asked, and doing it graciously and humbly.
Christ speaks a parable about a banquet, and all of the people were busy, so he searched for the lame, the blind, all those who were rejects of society, those who were thought lower than, and he invited them, and they came, even to the point of angering the people who were too busy.
How do you understand this parable?
To Simon, who looked down on Christ who accepted a prostitute to wash his feet, he showed that the prostitute loved him more than the man that taught the very Scriptures about Him.
He told a Parable of the Pharisee who praised God for his holiness, andt thanking him for not making him like the tax collector, who would not even raise his head to God, and asked for mercy, and said it was the latter whom God loved.
This, I believe, is the true problem with the Church. They are more concerned about law than love, and even concerned about loving too much. Is 7 times too many times to forgive my neighbor? Shouldn't I say, "enough is enough?" They are more concerned about others than themselves, more concerned about whom to condemn that how to love. There are others that are changing, and there is hope, but when that change happens, often, I hear, "That's the problem with the Church today..."
In your opinion, what is the true problem of the Modern Church?
The true problem of today's Christian church is that its impact on most members' lives
fades to nothing within an hour after the service is over. We certainly don't keep the sabbath. Are those Sunday crowds at the stores all atheists? Agnostics? Hindi? Buddhist? C'mon!
We are constantly dragging earthly politics up to the altar, to the extent that at least until recently "evangelical" equalled "Republican," "mainstream" equalled "Democrat."
The fact is, but for that one hour a week, most of us most of the time are proud, envious, angry, greedy, lustful and gluttonous; and if we are habitually honest we actually think we deserve credit for it. (You don't deserve credit for doing what God wants you to do.) We consume as mindlessly as any secular grouping and have similar rates of substance abuse/dependence, divorce, and domestic violence.
The churches are simply not impacting their own congregations
We consume as mindlessly as any secular grouping and have similar rates of substance abuse/dependence, divorce, and domestic violence.
Sometimes possibly more. But I don't like to stereotype. On the subject of which, "secular" does not mean mindless, immoral, (insert negative adjective here).
Since I can only speak for myself with certainty. I can do and have done(as a member of the secular) things in my life that amount to more than mindless consumption up to and including military service. Perhaps not as much as I wish. But I don't make assertions to perfect. I only make note of my imperfections and desires for improvement.
As a non-Christian I can't really say what is going on with the Church as a whole. I know that I think(emphasis on think) that while it(religion) wont die out completely. Religion will continue to slowly decay in a societal sense. I do think however that religion will as it always has continue to change as the world we live in changes due to social changes and technological changes. What form it all take even a century from now though, I don't know.
From the outside, I would have to say that what makes the church least attractive to me is the elitism and holier-than-thou attitude of many (certainly not all) Christians. Unfortunately a lot of the most outspoken Christians are also some of the angriest. It sometimes takes people as charismatic and down-to-earth as Gene Robinson and Desmond Tutu (and, of course, some of my own friends) to remind me that there are lovely Christians out there as well. But the public face of Christianity is, more than ever, the shouty evangelical with a list a mile long of people to condemn, and a list consisting solely of people in their church to actually be nice to.
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Jesus says we die a little death for him every day.
~ La Petite Mort, Erin McKeown
I think the biggest problem is the vast difference between what Jesus taught and what the church has become. That's vague, I know, but true. Like the OP said, Jesus defied social and religious norms in order to love people, unlike the current church and most of its adherents.
__________________ If much in the world were mystery the limits of that world were not, for it was without measure or bound and there were contained within it creatures more horrible yet and men of other colors and beings which no man has looked upon and yet not alien none of it more than were their own hearts alien in them, whatever wilderness contained there and whatever beasts.
I must say that I have great sympathy for and often support the churches here (and with that I mean the traditional main churches, and not fundy sects).
Granted, they had and have to redefine themselves and find a new place in society, but I think they are doing remarkably well in that they are continuously shifting from providing us with ex cathedra truths to focussing on social and cultural work.
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"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing, and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there."
(Rumi)
Current problem with the c-chruch...
Besides not offering anything of substance? Besides that it's membership tends to be be mediocre? Besides the sheep mentality and passiveness?
I'd have to say the biggest problem with the church is the fact that it exists. I don't see any real benefit to having one in the neighborhood. :-/ I've got one right down the street and yet it doesn't seem to do anything except meet on sundays.
The biggest problem the Christian Church has today is that it's members are all people. Some of them even as mean and nasty as some of the posts on this thread.
The strength. Some are as thoughtful as Beanieboy in giving a well thought out post dealing with a nasty point, but avoiding being spiteful. Others are as careful as Cantata to not use a broad brush and look for the good in other individuals and groups.
Oh and it seems the Church has the same problem that many other institutions have. There are many good people in the pews. Fewer, but still enough in the pulpits of local churches. But by the level of getting T.V. time the good seem rare and the spiteful abound.
I really dont think that we can blame this on the church as a whole. The church is there to minister to us, yes, but not spoon feed us. Many Christians I know do not read the Bible on their own, and do not try to figure certain things out on their own. They believe things are sin simply because someone told them, not because they have found out on their own (IE reading the BIble, talking to God). Whether or not someone thinks homosexuality is a sin it is noones place to judge or tell them what they should do. That is between the person and God. If you can still be a Christian and a liar/adulterer/ addict/ murderer (yes, murderer, Paul killed many Christians in his day) then you can for sure be a homosexual and a Christian. God knew each and everyone of us before we were even born and Jesus shed his blood for us to give us eternal life if we just accept it. If we were all perfect then we wouldnt need to be forgiven.
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